The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLAT) has upheld the decision of fined Rs 200 crore on e-commerce company Amazon. The NCLAT has dismissed the petition of Amazon challenging the decision of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and directed the American company to pay the fine. This fine was imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in connection with the Future-Amazon case.
A two-judge bench of NCLAT comprising Justices M Venugopal and Ashok Kumar Mishra upheld the CCI’s decision and said that Amazon will have to pay a fine of Rs 200 crore within 45 days from Monday. He said that he tribunal is in complete agreement with CCI.
Why was the fine of 200 crores imposed?
CCI last year reversed its previous approval given in December 2019 and suspended Amazon’s deal decision to acquire 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL). The reason CCI changed its previous approval was that Amazon had withheld information while seeking approval to enter into the agreement. After this, CCI imposed a fine of Rs 202 crore on the e-commerce company.
The NCLAT completed hearing on Amazon’s plea in April this year. Said that Amazon has not provided all the information about its strategic interests in Future Retail Limited.
The deal was about to happen with Mukesh Ambani’s company
FCPL is the promoter of Future Retail Limited (FRL). FRL was part of 19 group companies operating in the retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing segments that were to be transferred to Reliance Retail in a deal worth Rs 24,713 crore announced in August 2020. But that deal was canceled by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited.
Significantly, the closed retail store chain Big Bazaar was operated by Future Retail Limited (FRL), a company of Future Group.